No Probation In Buss Case Merwin Gets Prison Term Despite Good Evaluations

An Athol, Idaho, man convicted of injuring a toddler who later died, will not be put on probation, a judge ordered Thursday.

Instead, Kevin Merwin, a 25-year-old father of four, will spend between two and 10 years in prison. The sentence was handed down despite a report recommending Merwin be given probation. The report was issued by corrections officer who evaluated Merwin after he spent six months at a prison in Cottonwood, Idaho.

“The court said Alex’s life mattered,” Donald Buss, the father of the dead boy said, sobbing with relief after the judge ruled.

Across the courtroom, the family of Kevin Merwin cried tears of disappointment.

“It doesn’t do any good to teach your family what a good system we have when it fails us,” said Ken Merwin, the father of the accused.

Alex Buss was 2-1/2 years old when he died in July 1995.

Kevin Merwin’s family, as well as the boy’s mother, continue to believe the computer repairman is innocent of the toddler’s death.

Alex Buss was the son of Michelle Merwin and Donald Buss. The couple is divorced and Michelle now is married to Merwin.

The day of the incident, Merwin had stayed home alone to baby-sit his three daughters from a previous marriage, along with Alex Buss and Alex’s sister Jessica.

Merwin has testified Alex seemed unusually lethargic the day of his death. Merwin said he saw the boy appear to faint and topple over backward off a bed he’d been standing on. Alex died after being taken to the hospital.

Merwin was charged with felony injury to a child after police and doctors came to believe that abuse was the cause of the boy’s death.

Although Merwin has continually insisted he never hurt the boy, in April 1996 doctors testified at his trial that Alex’s fatal injuries - bleeding in the brain and eyes appeared to have been caused by a blow to the head or by severe shaking.

Merwin was the only adult home at the time and the jury found him guilty.

In October, 1st District Judge James Judd sentenced Merwin to 10 years in prison with possibility for parole after two years. However, the judge also “retained jurisdiction” in the case - leaving himself an opening to change the sentence and let Merwin out on probation after only 180 days.

Merwin was sent to the Cottonwood evaluation program for six months, during which time his behavior was evaluated and he attended anger management classes.

Employees there returned an evaluation to the judge giving Merwin high marks and recommending him for probation rather than prison.

At Thursday’s hearing, Judge Judd said he did not doubt that Merwin would successfully complete his probation.

“The question I struggle with is whether probation is an appropriate solution in this case,” the judge said. “It was not a crime where a child was injured, it’s a crime where a child died.”

Judd said he did not feel that probation was appropriate for such an offense and instead ordered Merwin to serve out the original prison sentence.

Merwin will receive credit for time served and will be eligible for parole in a year and a half.

“We’ll be going in front of the parole board in a year and a half - we’ll do everything we can to make sure he’s there the full 10 years,” said Donald Buss, the boy’s father. “Merwin took away from Alex and now Merwin deserves to have taken away from him.”

Merwin is appealing his conviction.

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